Why all New Zealanders should speak Māori and how to get them to, according to young people

Friday, 6 December 2019

Teenagers have their say on why New Zealanders should know Te Reo Maori.

The Government is backing several youth-led strategies to get more Kiwis speaking te reo Māori.

Rangatahi (young people) from around the country shared their visions for doing that at a hui in south Auckland on Thursday.

Nine projects will each get up to $10,000 from Crown entity Te Māngai Paho to get them off the ground.

The initiative is part of the Government's ambitious 2040 Māori language strategy which aims to have at least 85 per cent of New Zealanders valuing te reo Māori as part of the country's national identity.

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Kiriana Eparaima-Hautapu says it's important to revitalise the language because it's the language of Aotearoa.

Other goals included for 15,000 Māori aged 15 and over to be using te reo Māori as much as English and one million or more Kiwis being confident to talk about basic topics in te reo Māori.

The 2018 Census showed 185,000 people could hold a conversation in Māori.

Young people who attended the Raranga Tahi Summit spoke to Stuff about their own ideas to get all of Aotearoa learning te reo Māori which varied from hosting wānanga (educational forums) in schools to national summits.

What was clear in all of the ideas was that change starts with rangatahi.

Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University of Wellington) student Kiriana Eparaima-Hautapu, who was at the hui at the Manukau Vodafone Events Centre said te reo Māori was the language of the land of Aotearoa and learning it enabled people to connect with the land, no matter where they were from.

She said kaupapa (initiatives) such as the Rarangatahi Summit were a good way to get younger people involved in speaking te reo Māori.

'We will also set examples for the generations to come.'

Māori Language Commission chief executive Ngahiwi Apanui said engaging rangatahi was essential to achieving the Māori language strategy as they were future leaders and parents who would be influencing the next generation.

'We don't honour their voices enough.'

Others were keen for compulsory lessons and more events where the language could be spoken.

The commission aimed 'to get New Zealand to fall in love with te reo Māori'. To do that it needed buy-in from all Kiwis.

Apanui said te reo Māori was a marker of national identity for all New Zealanders – regardless of their ethnicity or how many generations of their family had lived in Aotearoa.